Author: Suzanne Bearne / Source: Positive News
When Germany opened its borders during the worst refugee crisis in recent years, one woman felt compelled to help people who had left behind high-flying careers in academia
“I knew there must be people coming here who were scientists, and how horrible it must be if you were once using your brain for something, working all day on a subject, and now just sit around,” says Dr Carmen Bachmann, professor of business taxation at Leipzig University.
It was 2015 and Germany was facing a fourfold increase in the number of asylum applications compared to the previous year. People were fleeing war, violence and poverty in Asia, Africa and the Middle East: the largest influx in the country’s post-war history.
Bachmann decided to build a website to help academics who had had to flee their countries, connect with their German peers. Using a template of a dating site, Chance for Science encourages users to enter a profile and their location and area of study, which results in relevant ‘matches’. These can be collaboration or research opportunities, or simply ideas sharing. “I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” says Bachmann.
Our world is beautiful.
The site now has more than 700 users, including at least 200 refugees, but Bachmann says it was a challenge to get refugees on board when it launched in September 2015. To attract users, she visited refugee camps and handed…
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